


The Forgotten Light

by CheesyNinja4ever



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29721360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CheesyNinja4ever/pseuds/CheesyNinja4ever
Relationships: Peeves (Harry Potter)/Original Character(s)





	The Forgotten Light

If you asked Peeves why Oliver Smith caught his attention, he would probably not answer your question. Even if he did, he would say that it was that the “ittle whittle firsty” looked like he need a sense of humor. In truth, that was only one of the many reasons that the small boy wearing all black caught his eye. Even he did not really know whether it was that, unlike the other students, he was only called up by his first name, that he was sorted into Hufflepuff despite his appearance, or some kind of instinct that made Peeves start spying on him. In around five minutes, it was obvious to Peeves that there was something interesting about the silent, antisocial Hufflepuff. 

Just after a few months at Hogwarts, Oliver invited all the ghosts for a meeting at the Grand Hall. They didn’t know that what he would tell them next would change their afterlives in a way they never thought was possible. He had found a way for ghosts to eat food and even explained the spell to them. “Egocreoa cibomanes!” he cried, pointing his wand at the food. To their surprise, it worked, letting the Hogwarts ghosts feast for the first time. After excusing himself from the Grand Hall with a plate of biscuits, young Oliver searched for the one ghost who didn’t bother to come, the troublemaking poltergeist. As he expected, Peeves came swooping down at him and attempted to scare him. “There you are,” Oliver laughed, “I’ve been looking for you. This is for you.” Peeves looked very confused as he sulked in an empty room and ate the ghost biscuits for the next two hours. 

After that, Peeves spent a considerably more amount of time trying to understand Oliver. Just within a few days, he had discovered that Oliver had made friends with every single picture and ghost and even chatted with the sorting hat, but had yet to even talk to an actual, living person. When she became the new headmaster, Umbridge immediately found a dislike for the kind first year. Peeves would claim that it was pure coincidence that the day he saw little Oliver crying over her mindless cruelty was the same day Peeves decided to make Umbridge’s life a living hell, but even the other ghosts were questioning exactly how much he cared about Oliver. 

Sometime during the cruel reign of Umbridge, a group of students in the Inquisitorial Squad pushed Oliver down one of the stairways right when the stairway in question moved. The students ran away in fear as Oliver fell through the air, his wand still in the hands of the students that had pushed him. He closed his eyes as he fell, remembering everything he could about his life. Before he hit the ground, something, or rather someone, grabbed his hand and pulled him back to where he had been pushed off. “Can’t have the Bloody Baron coming at me because some wimp accidentally killed his only source of food,” Peeves stated nonchalantly, and rushed away before Oliver could even open his mouth. This time, Peeves spent the entire day sulking in an empty room with ghost biscuits and a ghost tub of ice-cream. If anybody had walked or floated in during that time, he would have declared that it meant absolutely nothing and they should mind their own business. 

  
  


During the Hogwarts War, Oliver was not scared to put himself on the front line for Hogwarts, despite only being a third year. Peeves also “just happened” to “be in a good enough mood” to help the Hogwarts students fight Voldemort and his Death Eaters. After singing his victory song, Peeves managed to sneak away to try to find Oliver, who he had lost track of in the chaos of the fight. He only found an empty shell left of the poor boy, who was lying still on the dirty, bloodstained battlefield, his wand just barely out of the reach of his outstretched hand. Oliver Jereomy Smith, the mysterious, solitary Hufflepuff who never wore anything but black was now just another dead body in the battlefield. Oliver Smith, whose stereotypical name never could even come close to describing his unique kindness, was just another “noble sacrifice” who would be promptly forgotten in the ocean of dead faces and names. Oliver, who somehow always had the perfect way to counteract Peeves’ chaotic destruction, was just another snuffed out candle, just another forgotten light. All alone in the wreckage of the place Oliver once practically called home, a ghost cried for a boy that few even ever noticed, a boy that was barely anything when compared to the ghost’s immortal life.

“No,” Peeves whispered desperately when he saw who was standing in front of him, “You can’t take him! He’s not yours!” The cold, looming figure just looked at him haughtily, a slight sneer forming behind its black hood. Slowly moving closer, it began to speak.

“You thought you could just get away with cheating me forever, Pax?” it mocked cruelly, “I thought even you knew better than to mess with me.” 

“You can’t have him! He’s not ready, not now! None of these child soldiers are!” Peeves sobbed, his detached, uncaring mask cracking away.

“We made a deal Pax, and you couldn’t keep your side of it. Now you have to pay the price,” it reasoned, with less emotion than even computers had, “Now you need to answer this simple question. What will you give up for this insignificant mortal who will never even come close to matching your age?” When Peeves could not come up with an answer, it gave a loud, somehow still emotionless sigh and declared, “In twenty years, I will return to receive an answer.” Having said everything it wanted to, it disappeared, leaving a heartbroken ghost to mourn all the dead warriors, all the forgotten lights.

  
  


As hard as Peeves tried, he couldn’t properly get back into his old routine. As ironic as it was, he still admitted to himself that Oliver’s death still haunted him. Twenty years passed by so slowly that Peeves was sure that sloths would look over and tell time to pick up the pace. When Death finally came back to receive his answer, he didn’t even have to ask the question before Peeves said yes. Death laughed coldly after the deal was sealed. “After all these years, Pax? This one foolish mortal is the one you give up everything for?” he sneered, “So be it. Enjoy your short, mortal life with your mortal friend. I will come for you when it is time, like I should have all those years ago. You’re out of tricks, Pax.” 

If nobody saw Peeves the poltergeist after that day, then it was not their business. If a boy who was called Oliver Smith and had the exact same appearance as the last one did was sorted into Hufflepuff the very next day, well, that was not their business. If he was seen flirting with another boy who was also sorted into Hufflepuff that very same day, that definitely was not their business. If that same boy, whose name just happened to be Pax, was caught kissing Oliver under the mistletoe only two years later, well, coincidences happen. If Pax had a knack for troublemaking that rivaled the missing poltergeist, then who could say that there was something suspicious about that? After all, they were only two fools that were heads over heels in love. One might even say that they would defy Death himself just to be together, but who could tell?


End file.
